Florida Supreme Court

Florida Supreme Court justices are in line for a 24 percent pay raise in the new state budget.

The 2018-2019 budget, which is expected to be approved Sunday, would provide $42,180 raises for the seven justices on the state’s highest court, increasing their salaries to $220,600.

Lawmakers said a factor in the raise is that three vacancies will have to be filled in January as longtime justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince leave the bench because of a mandatory retirement age.

A Tallahassee defense lawyer finds it absurd that he has to disclose which experts he might call on in his case to the prosecutor. Current legal procedure forces attorneys working pro bono cases to do so.

After issuing another batch of 10 rulings Friday, the Florida Supreme Court this week rejected a total of 40 death-penalty appeals on similar legal grounds.

The 40 appeals all were filed on behalf of Death Row inmates who received their sentences before June 2002, though the Supreme Court’s decision to release four large batches of rulings in a week was highly unusual.

The Florida Supreme Court has tossed out a case challenging the governor's right to make last minute appointments. The justices say it’s too soon to review because the appointments haven't been made yet. Without a clear ruling, some are worried about a potential constitutional crisis.

Uncertainty looms at the Florida Supreme Court as three judges near retirement at the same time Gov. Rick Scott leaves office in January 2019. Who will pick the three vacant spots on the court: Gov. Scott or his successor? The decision may change the balance between conservative and liberal members of the court.

The gubernatorial field is widening as the state Supreme Court is wrestling with the question of when the eventual winner’s nominating powers take effect. The court’s next move could have major repercussions for the bench.

Attorneys for a Palm Beach County millionaire convicted of DUI manslaughter will go before the Florida Supreme Court this week to challenge state rules for testing blood-alcohol levels in drunken-driving cases.

While the state of Florida is set to execute the first person in more than a year and a half, 150 other Death Row inmates await new sentences.

The death penalty was put on hold in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Hurst v. Florida that the process applied for sentencing someone to death was unconstitutional.

Residents in Lee and Broward Counties took Gov. Rick Scott to the Florida Supreme Court this week. They’re trying to overturn Scott’s vetoes of state money owed to them after agriculture officials destroyed their healthy citrus trees. The homeowners also took the state’s agriculture commissioner to lower courts.